An old video of a man being detained by Japanese immigration officials is being shared with the false claim that he is a Muslim from Somalia who was arrested and later deported for molesting several women.
BOOM found that the claims are false and the man was an asylum seeker who was detained for staying in Japan illegally.
The 1:40 minutes long video shows the man being restrained by multiple officials as he yells, "I cannot go back". Some of the officials are also seen sitting on his legs in order to hold him.
A caption on X reads, "In Japan, a Somalian muslim molested a number of women & girls. He is in the process of being deported & is refusing to go. He is unceremoniously bundled onto the plane and sent back to where he came from. He can be heard screaming and crying in pain."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video is circulating on Facebook with similar captions.
Click here to view.
We also received this video on our WhatsApp Tipline (77009 06111)
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from December 2019 and shows an African man being deported for illegally staying in Japan; not molesting women as being claimed.
We ran a reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video and found several webpages suggesting that the man was an asylum seeker. See here and here.
Taking a clue from this, we ran a keyword search using 'Video of Japanese police detaining asylum seeker' in Japanese and found a video similar to the viral one shared on YouTube earlier this year on June 6, 2023.
The video's title, translated roughly from Japanese, reads, "Immigration officials gang assault and ridicule asylum seeker who begs 'I'm not going home!' Attempted deportation of African man"
The description below the video explained how the man was detained in December 2019 after his refugee application was rejected by the government.
Taking a cue from this description, we ran another keyword search and found a detailed report of the incident published on June 7, 2023 by Japanese news outlet Tokyo Web.
The report carried descriptions of how the man was detained by the officials along with visuals that matched the viral video.
According to this report, the man's lawyer, Takeshi Ohashi, released this video shot in December 2019 that showed the man being detained in an immigration facility and being brought to Narita Airport for his deportation. However, the man's fierce resistance in the plane made the captain deboard him thereby helping him avoid deportation.
A further keyword searching using "Lawyer Takeshi Ohashi releases video of African man being assaulted by immigration officer" in Japanese led us to the website of Open The Gate For All, an NGO supporting immigrants and refugees. A blog on this website, written by Ohashi on June 5, 2023, carried details of the unnamed man's case.
In this blog and its second part, the lawyer argues why the man's deportation is unconstitutional and how he was tortured in detention despite not showing any signs of being violent.
The blog also carried a link to a post on X that showed the man being detained. The visuals in this video too matched the viral video.
According to reports, the man's application for refugee status was rejected in November 2019, but he was not informed of this for the next 25 days. He found out only on the day the officials began deporting him, denying him the right to seek legal redressal against the rejection of his application.
After escaping deportation, the man filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government and sought 4.5 million yen as compensation. In December 2022, a Tokyo District Court deemed the actions of the immigration officials unconstitutional and awarded the man 30,000 yen. In July 2023, the Tokyo High Court increased his compensation to 500,000 yen.
The blog by the man's lawyer or the news reports do not carry any details about the man being Muslim or from Somalia, it includes a general reference that he was from the African continent. There also exists no information about him being deported for molesting women, his deportation was taking place merely because his refugee application was rejected and because he was living in Japan illegally.
A longer version of the viral video showing the man being brought to the immigration centre where he is tortured and then being taken to the plane can be seen here.